TopGear drives the Spyker Aileron

The desert is about to get that bit hotter thanks to the outlandish £194,000, 400bhp Spyker Aileron...

And so to a bit of background: the Aileron
is Dutch company Spyker's second generation of the C8 range, currently
populated by a pair of other cars; the C8 Laviolette and the C8 Spyder. The
Laviolette is the more focused sports car (manual, hard, noisy), the Spyder the
chop-top version with a razored roof and windscreen - both feature Spyker's
predilection for air inlets that resemble the business end of a hypodermic
syringe. The Aileron has a more mature outlook, with inlets that resemble jet engine
intakes, a longer wheelbase, bigger cabin and that auto. The auto is important.
Spyker customers have apparently been crying out for a self-shifter since the
Laviolette first hit the streets - there are stories of Japanese customers
having their cars transported to areas just around the corner from their
favourite restaurants and shuffling them to the frontages in first gear. They
loved the car, but couldn't cope with a clutch.